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The Non-Partisan Association (NPA) is a civic-level political party in Vancouver, Canada. There are, and have also been in the past, Non-Partisan Association political parties in the nearby municipalities of Burnaby, Richmond and Surrey.

The NPA was established in 1937 to counteract the rise of the democratic socialist Co-operative Commonwealth Federation. The party is generally centre-right and draws its strongest support from the business community and Vancouver's established neighbourhoods on the west and south side. Its seemingly ironic name stems from the ideological position that civic politics should not driven by partisan, or party, politics.

Contents 1 Early years 2 Civic dominance 3 See also 4 External links

The NPA's first civic election effort was a failure because a member of the executive, Colonel Nelson Spencer, broke away and ran for mayor after the NPA chose George Miller as its candidate instead of Spencer. The result was the the right wing vote was split, and socialist Lyle Telford was elected. Telford would only serve one term before Jack Cornett was elected in the 1940 election, beginning the NPAs longstanding dominance of Vancouver's City Hall.

The NPA has enjoyed electoral success for most of its history. Its long reign over Vancouver City Council has been interrupted only for relatively short periods: 1967-1970, 1972-1978, 1982-1986, and 2002-2005. Over the years, its opposition has been The Electors' Action Movement in the 1970s, and the left-of-centre Coalition of Progressive Electors in the 1980s and subsequently.

There have been eleven NPA mayors of Vancouver:

• Jack (Jonathan Webster) Cornett (1941-1946)
• Gerry McGeer (1947)
• Charles E. Jones (1947-1948)
• George Clark Miller (acting) (1948)
• Charles Edwin Thompson (1949-1950)
• Frederick Hume (1951-1958)
• William Rathie (1963-1966)
• Tom Campbell (Independent 1967-1970, NPA from 1970-1972)
• Gordon Campbell (1986-1993)
• Philip Owen (1993-2002)
• Sam Sullivan (2005- )

• List of mayors of Vancouver
• Vancouver City Council
• Coalition of Progressive Electors
• Vision Vancouver

• The NPA